Silver
by Team Damon
Summary: Set after Shadow Souls, Elena chooses between the two brothers and must deal with the consequences. Songfic, based on "Silver" by David Cook. Chapter 3 is up :D
1. Chapter 1

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When writing you're history,  
I will always be a footnote  
A distant memory  
A warning sign of mistakes made  
The kind that you learn from

A cold chill woke Elena from her uneasy sleep. Groggily, she opened her eyes and saw that her strangely open window was the culprit. Gently, she eased a very soundly sleeping Stefan's arm off of her waist and eased out of the bed that they shared.

It had only been a month since she and Damon had rescued Stefan from the Dark Dimension, and she still couldn't get used to having Stefan beside her again. It was so surreal, she thought to herself as she closed the window. Sort of like the out of body experiences she had with Stefan when he was in prison. But then something caught her attention as she glanced unthinkingly out the window - a single black feather falling from a branch, the moonlight reflecting off of it and somehow casting little rainbows at its tips, though that seemed impossible in this darkness. Her heart thudded, knowing exactly who the feather belonged to. She lost sight of the glossy feather when it finally hit the ground.

So Damon had been here, she thought, and that's why the window had been opened. The thought of him watching her and his brother sleeping in each other's arms made her already uneasy heart hurt. In fact, anything that had to do with Damon had that effect on Elena. She had crushed him. Completely and utterly crushed him, and she knew it. She had known when she first decided that she would choose Stefan that it would destroy the other Salvatore, whom she had become extremely close to during their journey to save Stefan. She had kissed Damon, held him, gave him her blood, opened her mind and soul to him, and by doing so fell in love with him. He, in turn, had fiercely protected her, endured terrible pain for her, and had fallen even more deeply in love with her than he already had been.

When Stefan was rescued and safe, Elena knew she had a choice to make. She also knew that no matter which brother she chose, she would be splitting her soul in two. Each brother now had a piece of her, and there was no putting the pieces back together. She figured that that type of dismemberment was a fitting punishment for betraying Stefan and leading Damon on as she had.

She loved Damon. She loved how similar his spirit was to hers. She loved his wild, frightening side as much as his gentle, protective, and loving side. She felt one with him in body and soul, like he was the last piece of her puzzle, completing who she truly was.

But there was also Stefan. Sweet, selfless, equally loving, and amazing Stefan. He had been her love for so long, and they had been through so much. She had gone to hell and back - literally - to save him. He would do anything for her. He was the epitome of what every girl wanted.

And so was Damon.

In the end she chose Stefan. She simply couldn't, _couldn't_, break his heart. It would break _her_ completely to do so.

She didn't want to remember what it had been like to tell Damon her choice, but his face was forever burned in her memory. She lost the half of herself that belonged to him that day, and broke just as badly as she feared she would if she had chosen Damon.

She shook her head. Stop it, Elena. Enough self-torture, she thought as she walked back to the bed. Then a white envelope on her nightstand that had not been there when she had gone to bed caught her attention. She picked it up and read her name in elegant handwriting on the back, heart racing as she recognized the familiar handwriting. Not wanting to wake Stefan, she took the envelope to her bathroom and flipped the light on to read. She leaned against the sink and opened it.

__

This song is the best of me  
Taking pills for solemn motive  
A better side of me, an open mind  
For mistakes made  
The kind that you burn from

"My dearest Elena," the letter began, "I am sorry to bother you. I know that you are happy with my brother, and that should be enough to make me happy for you, but it doesn't. I suppose if I were more like Stefan it would make a difference, but sadly, our mother's selflessness was not passed on to me."

Elena frowned. She knew that was a lie. She remembered the ten gaping slashes in Damon's back and wondered how that didn't qualify as _selfless_.

__

So take this small confession as my price to pay  
I've never been the kind to let go

"I am essentially a selfish being. And because of that, my princess, losing you to my little brother is more devastating than mere words could convey to you. But I respect your choice and your wishes, so I will not fight for my own wishes. I love you too much to further tear you in two. While Stefan may not know, I know how this decision ripped you apart, literally. And I beg your forgiveness, for I am to blame. I should have never pursued you, never forced you to make such an impossible decision. I should have allowed you to remain whole. I know that you will forgive me, for you are so good and pure that you have perfected forgiving the unforgivable. But I shall never forgive myself. I wrecked you, my darling, as much as you wrecked me. Except I was always fragmented, only whole during those brief moments when you belonged to me."

Stefan still didn't know about those moments. Elena would never let him know of her betrayals. He would have forgiven her, of course, but he would hurt so deeply, and no truth was worth that pain, she thought. Especially not if he learned just how far she had taken things with his brother.

"When you would kiss me, parts of me that I thought had died centuries ago sprang to life. Scars began to heal at your mere touch. And when you gave of your blood, joining your body and soul to mine, I knew that I was complete and that I had found what I spent five hundred years looking for. I no longer dared regret any part of my life, for each minute of it had led me to you, my love, my princess, my life."

At this, Elena's shaking hands dropped the letter. God, why did he have to tell me all this, she thought bitterly, barely noticing the tears escaping her eyes. This wasn't fair. He was torturing her! His words were pure and utter torture, stakes driven slowly through the remaining half of her heart.

__

But before you up and walk away  
I'm miserable without you, you know

"I don't mean to hurt you, dear Elena, I only mean to explain to you why I have decided as I have. You will be happy to know that I am leaving, and that I can promise you that neither you or my little brother will ever see me again. I have done enough damage, caused enough pain and chaos, much as it pains me to admit it. I wish I had never stepped foot in Fell's Church, never laid my eyes on your perfect face, never felt the love of the soul mate that could never be mine. I wish you never had to be dragged down into my pathetic, dark existence. You belong in the light. I tried to take a ray of sunshine and make it my Princess of Darkness, knowing all along that something as pure as you should never have to settle for that kind of life. Stefan can give you a better life, I suppose. If you can put up with his undying martyrdom and incessant whining."

Elena smiled. Wouldn't be Damon if he didn't throw in a dig at St. Stefan.

_This silver leaves me longing for gold  
Second place has never carried me home_

"No matter what, Elena, I forbid you to dare blame yourself for my decision. I decided my fate long ago, before you were alive. For a brief time I thought I could be redeemed, but I was mistaken. In this envelope is my ring, keep it if you wish or dispose of it. Either is fine with me, whatever you wish."

Eyebrows crunched together, Elena grabbed the envelope on the counter and shook it out. Damon's Lapis Lazuli ring feel into her hand.

Elena shook harder now. Damon didn't mean he was going to… no, he couldn't mean that. Could he?

"In closing, I want to thank you for giving me a lifetime's worth of love in the short time we had together. It was worth the wait, worth every second of every moment of waiting. I love you with everything I have in me. I am sorry for altering the story of your life. Know that you gave mine the best chapters of its five hundred and twelve years. Be happy. Try to forget the pain I caused, as best you can. Look out for my little brother. You are all that he has left now.

"All of my love belongs to you, my beautiful angel, Elena. Anything good in me is yours, and was always yours. Goodbye."

Deepest love, Damon.

"Oh my God," Elena gasped, dropping the letter, tears streaming and heart pounding painfully. "He's going to kill himself." She clutched the ring that protected Damon from the sun in her hand and, in the midst of her panic, counted the hours until the sun was to rise. _1, 2, 3, _4. She had four hours to find him.

In minutes the sleeping Stefan was forgotten and Elena was out the door and running.

_This silver leaves me burning for gold_

_Second place has never carried me home_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews, I feed off of them, LOL. Hope you guys like the second chapter, I wasn't sure if I was going to continue or not but then I got an idea and had no choice but to write it out, lol, hope it doesn't suck. Song is "Never Too Late" by Three Days Grace. :D**

_This world will never be_

_What I expected_

_And if I don't belong_

_Who would have guessed it_

Damon absentmindedly rubbed the middle finger on his left hand, surprised by how strange it felt to be without the ring that was almost as old as he was. He'd hated the ring at first, he remembered. He'd thought it too gaudy and too heavy but he quite literally couldn't live without it. And that very reason was why he was no longer wearing it tonight.

He was in the Old Wood, not in a tree like he normally would be, but rather leaning against one with his back while he sat in the grass and awaited his final sunrise. He knew what people would say. They'd call him a quitter, mock him for ending his life over a girl. But after five hundred years he could honestly say he no longer cared what any of those pitiful humans would think, not that he really ever did. He wasn't a quitter. He was merely tired. He had been tired for a long time. Bored. Lonely. Ready to end his pathetic excuse of a life.

Elena had entered his life just as he was preparing to cash it in. She gave him a reason to stick around. She gave him everything. And she had also took everything and given it to his unworthy squirrel-nibbling little brother.

Ah, Stefan, Damon thought. Stefan would be quite emo over this for a long time. Damon did feel guilty for leaving Stefan as the last remaining Salvatore. But he had Elena, and what good was Damon ever to his brother anyway? He doubted Stefan would miss the constant mockery and torture that Damon had been happily inflicting on him since birth. Actually, Damon thought as an eyebrow raised, St. Stefan probably _would_ miss it. The whole my-brother-is-a-monster-but-I-continue-to-love-and-associate-with-him was part of Stefan's quintessential saintly persona. He rolled his eyes. How did Elena put up with such a, for lack of a better term, dweeb?

He had barely noticed that he had pulled out his crumpled photo of Elena and was now staring at it until he realized he had almost let a tear escape. Almost.

_I will not leave alone_

_Everything that I own_

_To make you feel like it's not too late_

_It's never too late_

He knew this would hurt her. She would probably blame herself (though not as much as St. Stefan inexplicably would, of course), but she really wasn't to blame. Five hundred years is a long time to live a kind of life you had never actually wanted. Damon would have been happy to lie unbothered in he and Stefan's tomb and turn to dust, and when he awoke as a newborn vampire, he had fully planned on starving to death. It was dear old bunny-munching little brother who had all but poured blood down his throat and fully completed the change. Damon laughed bitterly at the memory. Now-"vegan" Stefan had been the bloodthirsty one, bursting out of the tomb and consuming an entire family. He had been the one dazzled by his new vampire strength and superhuman senses. Damon, however, recognized Katherine's "gift" to them as the curse that it was. And now that Damon was, against his will, a shiny new vampire, he would make his existence count. By making Stefan's a living hell.

Not that anyone, including Elena, knew that little tidbit of information. Whatever. It didn't matter anymore.

_Damon!_

The sudden burst of power almost knocked Damon unconscious, and the voice screaming his name telepathically was unmistakable. Perfect. So much for dying quietly and peacefully.

_Even if I say_

_It'll be alright_

_Still I hear you say_

_You want to end your life_

Elena could feel Damon now, she knew she was getting closer. He'd been laying low, trying to hide his power so he couldn't be found. But Elena, being a former angel or whatever it was that she had become (she still wasn't sure), had access to wavelengths vampires did not, making it impossible for Damon to hide.

_Elena, please go back home_. His voice in her head made her heart beat to the point of pain.

_No, Damon, I'm not letting you do this. I can't let you do this. _

_Turns out that actually, you can, considering it's my decision and I didn't ask you for your help or, come to think of it, any involvement at all. _Damon couldn't even control his attitude in his final hours.

_You involved me the second you came in my window and left me a suicide note_, Elena countered. She was very close now.

_Ah, "suicide note"… can we please not call this a suicide and just call it a long overdue end, considering I died four hundred and ninety two years ago? Besides, only melodramatic narcissists leave suicide notes, it's so "90210", and lets face it, that is not my sty-"_

Damon's telepathic ramble was interrupted by a panting, puffy faced Elena appearing in front of him finally. Their eyes met and the whole world stopped, just like it always did for them. "Style."

"So then what was it? Some last ditch effort to make me choose you? If I didn't come running to your rescue were you just going to sneak back in at dawn and snatch the ring back? If that's what you wanted then congratulations, it worked!" Elena half-screamed, hysterical.

Damon rose to his feet but continued to lean lazily against the tree, the subject of his impending death obviously quite casual to him. "Do you really think that I would trick you into choosing me? Guilting you in leaving my brother? That's hardly different than if I compelled you." Now he was getting angry. "Elena, believe it or not, everything does not revolve around you."

Before she had the chance to think about it, Elena's right arm flew out and she slapped Damon hard across the face. "Screw you, Damon. You never loved me. You've never loved anyone but yourself. You deserve this! I should just let you burn."

He stared at her, words stinging much more than her slap. He watched tears stream down her face and her body shake in anger and hysteria and he hated himself.

"I can't live without you, Damon," she again half-screamed, half-sobbed. "I can't!"

"Elena, you made your choice and it was to live without me. You can't have it both ways, trust me, been there and done that." Now he had to wonder if Elena had gone crazy. Did she not recall kicking Damon to the curb for his venison-loving little brother? Maybe Stefan's questionable intelligence was rubbing off on her.

She slapped him again. "Would you stop with the sarcastic attitude for one minute, Damon, or am I not even worth that?"

"Fine. What is it that you want from me, Elena? Tell me."

She shook her head, stepping closer to him. "Damon, the only reason I'm able to get through the day is because I know you're out there, living, breathing, even though you're not with me. It destroyed me to choose. I'm a different person now, and Stefan knows it. I'm… I'm turning into you, Damon. I'm wearing a mask, I'm lying, I'm wrapping my soul in chains just so it doesn't tear apart even more than it already has. If you do this I will have to lay down and die with you. I won't be able to come back from this."

"Oh okay. So I go on living and killing and preying on the poor innocent humans you and Stefan care so much for and being the monster everyone hates so that your conscience won't be too much to bear? And I just accept my role in this world as the eternal runner up who watches my brother effortlessly come out in first place with everything that was supposed to be mine? Elena, if you cared as much as you claim, you wouldn't curse me to that kind of torture just so you can sleep better at night."

"Fine! Damon, I already told you, I'm yours!"

Damon grabbed his princess' trembling shoulders and stared deeply into her blue and gold eyes. "I don't want your charity, Elena. I didn't choose to do this to win you back. I chose this because I am tired, I am exhausted and I am _done_, Elena, I am _done_."

_Now and again we try_

_To just stay alive_

_Maybe we'll turn it all around_

_'Cause it's not too late_

_It's never too late_

"Then I am too," Elena all but whispered.

"Really. So you will leave Stefan for eternity to be with me. Interesting, because you chose the opposite not even three weeks ago. Do you see how you aren't making any sense right now?" He released her from his grip and took a step back. "Geez, if I had known a mere suicide note would make you pledge yourself to me then I would have-"

"Damon, you are ripping my heart out and crushing it," Elena spit through her clenched jaw. She was trying to save this man from death but she wasn't sure she wouldn't strangle him afterwards.

"Good," Damon shrugged. "It hurts, doesn't it?"

She closed her eyes. "What do I have to do? Drop to your feet and beg you to forgive me? Tell me what to do, Damon, and I'll do it."

_No one will ever see_

_This side reflected_

_And if there's something wrong_

_Who would have guessed it_

He took in the pitiful sight of his love. She was shivering, quaking, sobbing, choking, and hugging her arms around her as if she'd fall to pieces if she let go. This is what he'd done to the strong, wild-hearted, self-sufficient Elena that he loved so much. He had been right - he wrecked her as badly as she had wrecked him.

"Go home. Go live a happy life. Have a beautiful offspring of half vampire, half angel children. Do whatever it takes to forget the damage that I've done and just let me sleep."

Damon turned his back and was preparing to change into a crow and fly as far away from here as his wings would take him but Elena's words stopped him. "Damon, I knew I chose wrong the second the words came out of my mouth. Do you think it's that simple, just go home and be happy? Damon," she walked towards him, "I have no idea how to be happy anymore. Ever since… God, ever since you grabbed me and took me up in that stupid tree and kissed me! I'm different, I don't even recognize myself anymore. I changed. You changed me and you can't leave me now."

"You mean like you left me?" Damon muttered, his back still to Elena. His own voice annoyed him, he didn't like whining like this. He thought it made him sound too much like Stefan. But he didn't have the strength or the will to pretend to be made of stone anymore.

_And I have left alone_

_Everything that I own_

_To make you feel like_

_It's not too late_

_It's never too late_

Elena couldn't hold back anymore. She wrapped her arms around Damon from behind and buried her face in his shoulder. He smelled of leather, something faintly Italian and other things that she couldn't identify, just as she never could. Everything about him was so distinctly _Damon, _so original. There would never be another like him, never. And somehow he had become a part of her, she feared. If he ceased to breathe then she would cease to as well, it was undeniable.

His eyes were closed tightly and his arms hung uselessly at his sides. He could feel something, perhaps his will, shifting inside of him, and quick as lightning he turned and was cradling her face in his hands.

"It's not real if you have only come to me because I was going to end my life. If I give in to you and then Stefan turns around and tries to put a stake in his heart you will just run off to him again and I refuse, I _refuse_, Elena, to lose you twice."

Her blue eyes bore into his endless black ones and time stopped. Elena had known she chose wrong but in this moment she realized just _how _wrong it really was.

_The world we knew_

_Won't come back_

_The time we've lost_

_Can't get back_

"I refuse to be the death of you," she countered. "Everything is different. You changed my world and Stefan can't change it back. I can't change it back and the sun turning you into a pile of ashes won't change it back. And I'm telling you this now because I had to try. I owed Stefan that much. And I haven't been able to admit it until now because I didn't _want_ to admit it, I didn't want to keep hurting both of you. _I _am the monster, Damon. And I know that nothing can make up for what I did to you, but…"

He touched her face lightly, just tracing her left cheekbone, and leaned in just enough to fill his senses with her unbelievably sweet scent. "I want to believe you."

His voice was low and somehow sensual in the midst of all of this, and Elena trembled harder in response. She could think of only one way to prove to him that she wasn't going anywhere.

She pressed her lips to his and they lost themselves inside the electricity and fireworks that had took them by such sweet surprise the first time they had kissed so long ago. The magic had grown with each stolen kiss since then, and now it was enough to take them to heaven and back again.

Their minds opened to one another's and everything rushed together in one blink of an eye. Suddenly she saw the years of pain that had brought Damon to this point, his birth as a vampire, the death and sorrow that plagued his existence, the toll that being Damon Salvatore had taken on him. He had been very careful to hide this from her until now, and her mind reeled. Not even Stefan knew of this part of his brother. He unleashed himself on her full force, wanting her to see and know everything.

Damon, in turn, saw before him a broken soul held together by the same chains that he had used to keep his closed to all feeling for so long. He saw the slow transformation of the angel he had fallen in love with, the gradual death of Elena and the birth of her hollow shell that she had spent the last month constructing so carefully. She really was turning into him. She had been dying just as surely as he had been.

And as their kiss deepened and they gave of themselves completely to each other, the two puzzle pieces that had been torn apart with Elena's choice were rejoined, and Elena's shell cracked. Her chains were ripped away by strong arms and disposed of. Everything was new, and everything was the way it was supposed to be. Both knew that there could be no going back.

When they broke apart, breathing hard and fast, holding on to each other desperately, staring into each other's eyes as if the whole universe was opening up through them, Damon released one hand from her waist while the other continued to tangle in her hair and took her hand. He slipped his ring off of her finger - she had been wearing it for fear it would fall out of her pocket - and slid it back to its home on his left middle finger.

"Damon," she breathed, still panting uncontrollably. They both tried to find words to say but found that none were worthy of being said. Damon pulled her closer and kissed her again, and nothing else mattered.

_Maybe we'll turn it around_

_'Cause it's not too late_

_It's never too late_


	3. Chapter 3

Neither Damon nor Elena knew how long they had been lying there in the woods, barely speaking, just gazing at and holding each other, and they didn't much care about time. Both of them feared moving or even just turning away from the other, afraid that this fantasy would end and they would somehow disappear, and life would go back to normal. After longing for change for what seemed like an eternity, it was almost impossible to believe when it finally came.

Somewhere in the midst of their dream-like state of bliss, the sun had begun to rise. A faint ray of light cast itself across Damon's face, and Elena watched as the stars in his black orbs of eyes began to dance and reflect in her own eyes. Faintly, she remembered that this very moment, the dawn's first light, would have marked the end of her beloved's life had she not woken and gotten to him in time.

That realization brought Elena's mind rushing back to her and before she had time to think first she had blurted out, "Oh my God, Stefan."

She shot up from the ground and Damon followed suit out of instinct. "What?" He asked, confused.

"I haven't even thought about him, Damon, I need to get back to the boarding house and…" Her heart sunk in her chest. Nothing good in her life could ever come without a healthy dose of misery. "God, how am I supposed to tell him?"

Damon brushed a few strands of hair out of her face and behind her ear, his other arm still wrapped around her waist. "I suppose it would probably be best if I didn't tag along to _that _particular get-together."

"You know him best - how do you think he'll react? I just.. I don't know what to expect."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "Well, it could go one of several ways. Behind Door 1: he could decide to spiral out of control, start binge drinking human blood and spend the rest of his existence trying to kill me. Which wouldn't be completely unfair, I suppose. Or, behind Door 2, he could live up to the title of 'St. Stefan' and say that whatever makes you happy makes him happy, blah blah blah, and offer to serve as our wedding planner."

"I just don't know, he just got home and now…" Elena froze, her eyes shooting up and searching Damon's curiously. "Did you just say something about a _wedding_?"

There was the slightest pause before Damon replied, "No, of course I didn't. That would be weird, we haven't even technically dated yet." He then flashed her a smile and she laid her head against his shoulder, snuggling into his arms and hoping to postpone the inevitable as long as possible.

"Ugh, I hate this. Can't I just send him a break-up text or something so I don't have to watch his heart break? I don't think I can do it…"

"You can do it, Elena, and my brother will be okay. Who knows, maybe he'll fall in love with Bonnie or someone and we can all live happily ever after."

Elena had to chuckle. "I don't know if I've ever believed in happily ever afters."

His hand brushed her chin and he lifted her face to look in her eyes. "Then what's this?"

"Happy for now," Elena shrugged. "After everything I've been through I won't ask for anything more than that."

"Oh, Elena," Damon smiled, kissing her forehead, "such a cynical little fallen angel."

She smiled back. "Hey, I'm your Princess of Darkness after all, right?"

"Finally," Damon murmured before pressing his lips to hers. He could have stayed there forever with his princess, especially when she started getting carried away and the kiss threatened to turn into something else. But she wasn't truly his yet.

"Elena," He breathed, not wanting to pull away but recognizing that he had to serve as the voice of reason. "Go to Stefan. The sooner he can start moving on, the sooner we can too."

Elena nodded, sadly. "Okay."

"Okay," Damon echoed, giving his princess one last kiss.

...

The walk to the boarding house wasn't far, but Elena was taking her time walking and trying to figure out what she could possibly say to make Stefan understand.

"_It's not you, Stefan, it's me!"_ Ugh, worn out clichés were the worst.

"_It's just that… well… while you were rotting in that demonic prison I kissed your brother a bunch and he drank my blood and well, y'know, one thing led to another, and now I want him."_ Elena dubbed this the "I'm a slut" excuse and crossed that off the list.

"_Well, let's just face it, Stefan, he _is_ the hotter brother."_

_Couldn't agree more_, Damon's voice suddenly boomed in her head. She woke up out of her daze and looked all around her but couldn't locate Damon. _Up here_, his voice softly instructed, and Elena looked up and saw the oversized crow flying over her head.

_Okay, now that's just creepy_, Elena replied. _Crows can't talk, especially not telepathically_. _What are you doing, anyway?_

_I'm your back up just in case my dear little brother really loses it. _

Elena shook her head. _He won't hurt me, Damon._

_I know it's improbable, but nonetheless, I figure it is better to be safe than sorry._

The boarding house came into view, and Damon flew to a nearby tree and camouflaged himself amongst the leaves. Elena took a deep breath and thought to herself, _what's the worst that can happen? Besides Stefan deciding that life isn't worth living anymore like Damon did._ Elena rolled her eyes. This was awful.

Eyes to the ground, Elena kept walking and kept trying to mentally pull herself together, to no avail. Before she knew it, she had arrived at the house, and she finally pulled her eyes off the ground. Her heart froze as she took in the sight of Stefan sitting on the front porch, hands folded and head low, the picture of miserable isolation.

_I'm a monster. Yep. Katherine the Second. _

Stefan heard her footsteps and looked up, and their eyes locked. His forest green pools of eyes were full of pain and Elena instantly realized that he knew. He had to. She wanted to turn around and run away rather than have to look at the damage she had done, but there wasn't any turning back now. She took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"Stefan…"

He turned his attention back to the ground. "I'm surprised Damon isn't with you. Didn't know he could pass up an opportunity to gloat."

She wordlessly sat next to Stefan on the porch step. Stefan's voice reeked of dejection and betrayal. She expected that, of course, and much worse, but actually hearing it and seeing it was worse than she could have ever imagined.

"I woke up when you left. I heard the door," he explained. "I found the letter on the floor and I knew you must have gone after him. So I followed your scent."

"You saw everything," Elena concluded, and Stefan nodded.

"I hope you didn't stress too badly about a break up speech," Stefan seethed, his voice now laced with sarcasm.

"Stefan…"

"You know what the worst part is? You could have talked to me. I tried to get you to talk to me. I knew something was wrong, Elena, I'm not an idiot. You should have told me about you and him."

"I didn't want to hurt you…"

"Yeah, well, look where that got you," he spat bitterly. "Apparently you had to make some life-altering choice between my brother and I when I came back and I didn't even know. How is that fair to me, Elena?"

"None of this is fair to you, Stefan, and I hate myself for what I've done. I know I'm a monster and I'm no better than Katherine. And I deserve to be hated." She was beginning to cry now.

"See that's the irony," Stefan said, laughing. "I _don't _hate you. I hate _him_. _He's _the one who got me thrown in that hellhole to begin with so he could get to you. _He's _the one who couldn't keep his hands to himself while claiming to try to rescue me. _He's _the one so determined to make history repeat itself. And now he goes off and acts like he's going to kill himself so you'll leave me out of guilt and it works like a charm! Elena, you're a fool!"

Elena didn't want to say it but she had to. She wouldn't let Damon take the fall for her choice. "Stefan, it would have happened eventually. It was killing me, I-"

"Yeah, I already heard that little speech of yours in the woods. It doesn't excuse Damon. If this was merely your choice, and you came to it honestly and without his influence, then I would accept it and leave you alone. But he meddled and insinuated himself and pushed you until he got what he wanted. What kind of life do you think he can really give you, Elena? He doesn't know how to love anyone but himself. There's no humanity left, no soul, no _love_!"

"I've seen his soul," Elena replied. "I wish you could too."

There was a brief silence, then Elena felt the atmosphere change. She looked at the man next to her and her breath stopped in her lungs.

"I love you, Elena, and I always will. But my brother took something from me that he had no business touching. He took my salvation, my reason for breathing. He took _everything_. Do you really think I'm going to let him just walk away with my life?"

With that, Stefan's eyes met Elena's, and she may as well have been staring at a stranger. His eyes were clouded with rage, his veins were bulging from his skin, and the anger pulsing through him was making him tremble almost violently. "What are you saying, Stefan?"

Stefan's mouth widened into a smile that made Elena want to run away as fast and as far as she could. He seemed to be inching closer to her, and while she believed with all her heart that Stefan would never hurt her, she wasn't sure that this person was actually Stefan. Something was trying to resurface in her mind, some vital piece of information, but she couldn't place her finger on it. But she could feel her terror level rising with each second, and she suddenly realized that Stefan was staring at her neck, and his fangs were visibly extending.

No, Stefan would never bite her, not against her will! She knew him, knew that even when she _offered _her blood he was hesitant to take it. But that was definitely hunger in his eyes, and he was indeed getting closer, and…

Elena's heart stopped.

Stefan's eyes flashed red and she wanted to scream until her voice exploded.

Before Stefan could strike and before she could even begin to scream, there was a sudden blur of movement and Stefan was gone. Disoriented, she stood and looked around, her eyes eventually finding Stefan as he was being thrown at lightning speed into a tree. Then she was in Damon's arms.

"You okay, Elena?" he asked, looking her over while keeping an eye on the crumpled Stefan.

"Damon," she whispered, "_Shinichi_. It's Shinichi."

"I know," Damon replied. "Now do you see why I'd rather be safe than sorry?"

Then Stefan was gone, and Damon threw Elena behind him while sinking into a protective crouch. "Come on now, little brother, don't hide! I'm not even warmed up!"

_I've got some warming up of my own to do, brother. See you soon._

Damon eased back into a less threatening stance and eventually turned back to Elena. He held her close and then they were flying through the air, Elena holding on tightly as if for dear life.

_Damon, what are we going to do? _

_I don't know, _Damon replied, his voice comforting inside Elena's head despite the horror that threatened to overtake it. _Guess he went with Door 3, get possessed by a demonic fox and declare war on his loved ones. _

_Shinichi's going to destroy him, _Elena thought grimly, giving into the horror and opening the floodgates of her tears.

_Over my undead body,_ Damon replied, a surge of power sending them faster through the air.


End file.
